Jay-Z’s 4:44 Is Now His 14th No. 1 Album, Hitting the Top of the Billboard 200

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Less than two weeks after it was announced that Jay-Z’s 4:44had gone platinum, Billboard has declared Hova’s latest album a chart-topper, shooting to no. 1 on the Billboard 200. In fact, 4:44 is the rapper’s 14th no. 1 album; only the Beatles best him overall with a whopping 19 no. 1s. While 4:44 was initially only available to Tidal subscribers, and only 174,000 traditional album units like downloads or CDs have been sold, Nielsen Music calculated its success based on what Billboard refers to as “multi-metric consumption,” factoring in traditional album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming equivalent albums. As expected, the free downloads made available by Sprint did not count toward the album’s chart position. Bruce Springsteen and Barbara Streisand are currently tied for second place with 11 no. 1 albums, so looks like those two need to delve into some extensive soul-searching following a very public infidelity if they plan to catch up to Jay-Z. It doesn’t have to be with one another, but that certainly wouldn’t hurt their numbers, now would it?